May I please Almighty God to bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 21, and reading verses 21 and 22. The Gospel of John, chapter 21, and reading verses 21 and 22. Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. The Word of God is very clear and it's wonderful to have clear directions. And we know how Peter was always one to speak out and we have him here speaking and wanting to know, what shall this man do? He wanted to know about other people. And God graciously came and spoke to him and corrected him. And as we think of these words here, how often perhaps in our own lives we look around at other people and want to know what they're going to do, what they're going to say and how they're going to react. Where in fact the reality is, that spiritual things are essentially personal. You and I stand before God. You and I have to answer to God. And it doesn't matter what other people think. It's important that we have an evidence that God is looking upon us. And so the Lord Jesus answers him very clearly. and says, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. That was the great direction, wasn't it? That the Lord gave to Peter, to follow him. Not to be concerned about everybody else. Not concerned what they should do and what they should say. But the direction was very clear. Follow thou me. And how relevant that is to each one of us in our lives today. We have a glorious example of the Lord Jesus Christ set before us in the New Testament. and that's our example that's who we should be looking to and that's the one who we should be following and what a mercy therefore if the Lord gives us that willingness to do His will not to be inquisitive about other people to be busybodies and worried about them it's really how we respond to such a statement as that, what is that to thee, says the Lord, follow thou me. Now what a blessing it is therefore if we have that desire to follow the Lord in his wonderful example when he was on the earth. No doubt we're all familiar so far with the life of the Lord Jesus in his Wonderful example. And therefore Jesus here really rebukes Peter for the question that he asks. And we should not therefore follow that wrong way and be concerned about other people. We should be concerned about ourself first. It doesn't mean to say we should not pray for other people and desire that they might indeed be brought to the light and they may also follow the Lord in everything. But to have that true desire riveted into our hearts, so easy isn't it to look around and compare other people and yet we have to stand individually before our God. and therefore to follow that glorious example of the Saviour. And I suppose in following the Lord, what does that mean? What did Jesus do? Jesus did His Father's will. He followed the will of His great God. My friends, you and I today live on the earth and really for us today it's no different. we are to do our Father's will. We are to obey what He has instructed us in, and to be concerned therefore that through following Him, we may honour Him. The Word of God is so clear, isn't it? Those that honour me, I will honour. And those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. So easy, isn't it? For us to not honour our God. We think somehow we can get by without doing it. And yet, it's always good to come back to realise a great debt that we owe. And a great debt that has been paid. And it's a great blessing if that is so. in our lives. Now, I cannot tell whether God has blessed you with that wonderful favour. It's only you, as you stand before God, have the answer of that great truth, whether you are doing God's will, or whether perhaps you're sitting on the fence, or perhaps you're rebellious against the will of God and you Point the finger at others and say, well so-and-so's not doing this and they live a good life and therefore why should I do it? Well, the word is, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Doesn't matter what other people are doing. It's our own situation, what we are doing. And therefore what a great mercy it is to do our Father's will. And the life of God's people on this earth is not to please themselves. It is to please God. It is to do His will and not do our will. We live in a day The same as it's probably always been that the devil is very strong and powerful and brings into our mind so many excuses why we perhaps are a special case and we needn't do that which the Bible instructs us to do. And we look around and we see other people who haven't done it and therefore we think, well so-and-so hasn't done it, so therefore I can evade such a situation. Let us remember we have the Word of God. That's where we find our direction. Don't follow man, follow God. We won't make any mistakes if we follow God and follow his Word. We will if we follow man. And so may we have that grace of God. Again, it's a wonderful word, isn't it? The free unmerited favour of God to us, which enables us to really desire to do our Father's will. And that's in everything, in every detail in our life. And we shouldn't think, well, I can excuse myself from that position. No, we are to do God's will in everything. And Jesus went about, when he was on this earth, and what did he do? He went about doing good. He didn't do bad things, did he? He didn't tittle-tattle. He didn't speak against people. He did that which was good. And again, it's a wonderful testimony. And it's important for us today to recognise that, that we might therefore follow him in his gracious example. And the Lord had a hard life, didn't he? People criticised him. People spoke against him. people judged him wrongly but he still went about doing good and therefore what a mercy it is if God gives you and me that ability to desire to do that which is good and not that which is wrong and not that which is bad and we have the whole Bible to direct us into those things which are good And as we live in a dark world, we should be concerned to set a good example in the world in which we live. Isaiah tells us very clearly, ye are my witnesses. We're on this earth as God's witnesses if we are his people. And therefore our concern should be so to witness the truth of God's Word. To never turn away from it, and never try and avoid it. Sometimes questions are asked which may be difficult to answer, but we should endeavour to answer them faithfully and truthfully in accordance with God's Word. And always remember, we only have one Master. and that Master is Almighty God. What a blessing, therefore, if you and I are made willing in the day of His power to do those things which are in accordance with His will and go about doing good. And if we desire to do that, we can then follow on and see that Jesus, when He was on the earth, pleased not himself, he pleased his Father in heaven. And he had a difficult life and he had a hard life but nonetheless he was faithful and we can say in his case he was faithful unto death and as we think of what he endured, the cost of our salvation think that the Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer so much, not for any sin that he had done, but he suffered to carry our sins, so that our sins might be washed away in the precious blood of the Saviour. And so the Lord Jesus pleased not himself. You may remember that wonderful occasion in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he prayed to his father, knowing what was before him, and he prayed in that way, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. A gracious and a humble submission to do the will of his father. We know how of course he did have to suffer and what a willing saviour we have. How wonderful today that Lord Jesus Christ did his Father's will. And through doing his Father's will, that way was opened for unworthy sinners to receive the great and glorious blessing of the forgiveness of all their sins. and to realise the Gospel is spelt out so very gloriously in those words, redeemed. That means the price paid with the precious blood of Christ. Therefore, never undervalue the value of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did. Because without it, you and I today would be lost sinners. We would have no hope of eternal life. And as I've often said, there's no sin in heaven. You and I will never be accepted into heaven if we have any sin. and therefore we need that sin to be removed. And it is removed through that great and glorious sacrifice of the Saviour who stood in our place. You may just as very briefly think of in the Old Testament there was that which set forth the sufferings of Christ in the offering of the sacrifices And the Lamb offered not only on that great day of atonement but also every day there was the morning and the evening sacrifice signifying the need for death to occur and sin to be removed. And of course the Lord Jesus Christ carried that out in that final sacrifice No need for any sacrifices. After that which the Lord Jesus offered, he offered himself. No greater sacrifice. He offered himself. And you know, when we ponder that, as I hope we do, and realise therefore the great cost that was paid for us, then to realise that we have a very simple statement What is that to thee? Follow thou me. And we're not called usually to be crucified or to lose our life. I know there have been historically those martyrs who've been willing to give up their life to stand fast and firm for the great truths of the Gospel. But none of their lives would take away our sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ was so willing, so willing to go to Calvary. Remember, he set his face to Jerusalem steadfastly to do his Father's will. Well, are we doing our Heavenly Father's will ourselves? Only God knows how we respond to that. But God knows what our heart is, and where do we stand, and make excuses, and try and opt out of such a statement, and yet to think that this statement is made by our gracious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the great blessings is in following Him is to be blessed with that wonderful gift of fellowship in his sufferings. Often we tend to think that that is something which is not very important and a bit irrelevant, but the Apostle Paul knew himself how valuable it was, and he did have to suffer, and he didn't turn away from it. And we have the example set before us in the Philippians, where the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, sets before us his desires. And they were good desires. and wonderful desires. And as he tells us, he was a Pharisee and he was brought up as a Pharisee, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to me those I counted loss for Christ. I wonder how we consider such words in our own case. And then he says, yea, doubtless. That's a powerful statement, isn't it? It means there's no doubt about it. Yea, doubtless. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. and the fellowship of his sufferings be made conformable unto his death. It's wonderful that God in his great love to his church and mercy has granted that such a statement should be recorded for us today. in our life and it's a wonderful testimony and it sets forth the real desire of the Apostle Paul to have fellowship with his sufferings and so we take this statement what is that to thee? follow thou me and in following the Saviour following the Saviour not afar off Peter followed afar off. He followed afar off and what did he do? Denied his Lord and Master three times. My friends, let us not follow our Lord afar off. But let us truly follow his wonderful and gracious example and we have it set forth here by the Apostle Paul in his life. And he outlines in those few verses the value of that fellowship with Christ. Fellowship in his sufferings. I suppose naturally, people would stand back and say, well, I think that's a foolish statement, and I don't think that's true. But I can tell you, it is true. Because to have fellowship with Christ is wonderful, and to have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings is more wonderful. And the reason it is, because it brings us into that unity with the Saviour and some true understanding of the cost of our salvation. And therefore we see in that the value of Christ's blood and recognise it is indeed, as the hymn writer says, invaluable blood. shed for unworthy sinners like you and me so that by His grace one day we should be with the Saviour in glory forever. Well it's a good thing if we are looking forward to that time and we might think well I'm only young and got all my life before me. Well you may have all your life before you But of course we don't know how long that life will be. And therefore what a blessing it is to be found doing our Father's will. Going about doing good and not pleasing ourself. And then we see the life of Jesus on this earth. He went about and He was without guile. That's a very good statement to think of. He went about without guile. You see, you and I, in our lives, if we often perhaps tell a story or something, we might think it's truthful, but it may not be quite truthful. It may be perhaps 50% truthful. It may even be 90% or 99%. But Christ was totally without guile. What a blessing therefore if we are to follow Him that our life, that our words are without guile. We don't try and impress people by this and that statement but our concern should be to glorify God, to testify what He's done for our souls and how he's made it over to us and given us that good hope through his grace that he has died for us and that it is well with our souls. It's so important, isn't it, to realise that it's well with our souls. We're fast hastening through life. Life is a very short time. Eternity is before us where there is no time and how important it is therefore that we're amongst those who are true followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And he was without guile and we're told he reviled Sometimes we are reviled by what people say. And it's very easy, isn't it, to answer back, perhaps spitefully, and indeed not with a good real intention, and therefore the answer may very well revile those that reviled us initially. Well, Christ reviled not again. if we are followers of Jesus we should remember that not to revile again if we are reviled but absorb it and accept it again we're told the Savior tells us to turn the other cheek yes not things which you and I do naturally but by the grace of God he gives us that strength to do these things which are for His honour and for His glory. And then He offered Himself. He gave Himself that sacrifice. What a blessing if you and I are willing to give ourselves, give our life to our Saviour because of what He's done. He offered Himself. No greater offering is there. No greater offering. It's not pointing a finger at other people. It's ourselves. To offer ourselves. To serve Him, to do His will, and to follow Him, and to be a true servant. What a mercy, then, to follow that great and glorious example. While we touched upon that account in Philippians, But the Saviour indeed was despised and rejected of men. That's not easy, is it? In this world, we like to have friends, don't we? We like people to think well of us. And yet, you see, the Saviour was despised and rejected of men. And He never did anything wrong. He lived a perfect life. And there's our example. despised and rejected of men. Well, we have this before us and here is a statement. What is that to thee? Follow thou me. If we think we can avoid it, we are to grasp the scriptures and recognize the glorious example that we have set before us and desire to follow that example. And we're told him, we're told that for the joy that was set before him, the joy that was set before him. That's a wonderful statement, isn't it? It's good for us to realize these great and wonderful truths, which are set down in his word in the 12th chapter of Hebrews. We're told, looking unto Jesus, How wonderful isn't that? The author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners, against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. Sometimes we might think, oh, this path's very difficult. This path is not what I anticipated. Being a Christian, I thought it would be an easy path, and I'm finding it's a difficult path. Well, if we're true followers of the Lord Jesus, we won't find it's an easy path, because Jesus himself tells us It is through much tribulation that we shall enter the kingdom, but be of good joy. I, the Saviour, have overcome the world. We, by His grace, are overcomers through Him. So, remember, the Saviour indeed was that great and glorious example despised and rejected of men. Yes, and a man of sorrows and a man acquainted with grief. we don't like really to think of those things, do we? but that was the Saviour, man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and so in our lives we think perhaps we're hard done by we think we're having a hard time we should always come back to consider Him the Lord Jesus Christ and to study His life and to study His words and to see what the cost was to grant us the great and glorious gift of eternal life. But He paid the price, took away all our sins, washed away in the precious blood of the glorious Redeemer. So what a mercy that is. And then of course we think of that, He endured the cross. He endured the cross. He didn't choose an easy way. He chose that way to endure the cross so no one could say, well, of course, Christ didn't suffer very much. He suffered the most painful death so that no one could point a finger at him and say, well, he didn't suffer very much. what are we to do? the command is to follow Him what is that to thee? follow thou me there's no room is there for excuses no room to think well I don't really have to follow the Saviour the great and glorious command is to follow Him because in that path as we read in that Philippian account, there is fellowship with Christ. There's no greater blessing than to have fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ endured the cross. What are we to do? We are told we are to take up our cross daily and follow Him. It's not just a question of perhaps picking up the cross on Sunday and thinking, well, I'm doing this and that and the other. Every day, every day in our life, whether we're at school or university or at work or at home, whatever it is, we are to take up our cross daily and follow Him. And if we do that, you see, we're not alone. We're not alone. Christ is with us. Joined to the Saviour. Union with the Saviour. It's a blessed path. It's a wonderful path. There's no better path. And he is indeed a great and glorious friend. Remember what the Bride of Christ said in that account in the fifth chapter of the Song of Solomon, where she'd been asked by the Church of God, what was her beloved more than another beloved? She gave a very wonderful account. And she came finally and said, and this is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem. what a friend is Jesus and perhaps we'd like to think he is our friend and I hope he is our friend but you see if he is our friend we should be following his example we should be following his words and here Jesus speaks to Peter so very clearly and he says to him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee? follow thou me there's no room is there for manoeuvre there's no room is there to excuse ourself And when you think of it, in reality, our life on this earth is very short, could be a hundred years, remote, but could be a hundred years, but then eternity. So, if we live for a hundred years and if we follow the Lord for a large part of that, it's only such a short time in comparison with eternity. and we should count it a most blessed and glorious privilege, therefore, to follow Him, to take up our cross, be united to the Saviour, to realise that if we are united on this earth, which all God's people are, we shall be with Him eternally in glory. People don't get to glory who are not united to Christ. People don't get to glory who do not know something of the sufferings of Christ. People don't get to glory who have just pleased themselves, rather than following the great and glorious example of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, as we have such an account here in this Gospel of John, to realise the relevance of it to ourselves. As I've said, real religion is personal between us and our God. We need to have a good evidence, a good testimony that He is our God, that He is our salvation that he has paid that price upon Calvary to take away all our sins and to realize therefore it is well with our soul. That really is the most important thing in our life, to know it is well with our soul. We can often be so concerned, can't we, about how well we're doing in life, at work, in university, at school, and it weighs heavily upon us, and we spend so much time on it, and yet the vital thing is to know my Jesus, crucified, by far excels all things besides. That's the words of the hymn writer who clearly understood it and how true it is. And may you and I therefore be a true follower of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Oh my friends, it's a favoured place, it's a blessed place to be a true follower of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ so we have this account here at the end of this Gospel of John and the Lord lays it down very clearly doesn't it? and you and I won't be able to walk away tonight and say well I didn't understand anything about that because the words are simple very simple what is that to thee? don't worry about other things follow thou me a clear direction a blessed direction and a direction which is profitable and of eternal good. So may God give us all that grace to clearly hear his voice and to take up our cross daily and to follow a despised and crucified man. Amen.